RJ ESKROW: We’re being told we should celebrate a “compromise” in which Democrats gave up $38.5 billion in spending cuts, when the original Republican demand was for $32 billion. That means the Democrats only gave the Republicans 20% more (20.2135%, to be precise) than they originally demanded. Okay, guys. You get an extra 20% — and not a penny more! MORE
FACT: The agreed upon budget compromise calls for $38.5 billion in spending cuts.
FACT: Canceling federal subsidies for the oil companies — roughly $4 billion a year — for the next 10 years would have cut $40 billion out of the deficit.
FACT: The oil and natural gas industry has spent $340 million on lobbyists since 2008.
ALSO: The GOP budget expected to go to the full House this week would remake health care programs for the elderly and the poor that have been in place for nearly half a century. Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says his approach would “save” Medicare by keeping the financially troubled program affordable for federal taxpayers. But it turns out that people now 54 and younger would pay the price. By one authoritative estimate, they’d be on the hook for most of their own health care costs after they become eligible for Medicare as retirees. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the typical beneficiary would be expected to pay more than two-thirds of his or her medical costs by the year 2030. MORE
